There’s a deep seeded vulnerability to every significant character in The House of Fata Morgana, a vulnerability that is festering behind a thin shield of various defense mechanisms and a facade of the person they purport to be among others. “You instinctively accept as truth the events unfolding before you”, the title crawl declares. This could be taken at face value of course, one must accept the magical element of the story for it to hold any weight, but I also took it as a challenge of premise. The game entreats the reader to investigate the real people trapping themselves behind this fata morgana (a term for a type of mirage I embarrassingly only learned about after completing the game so if you also didn’t know, well, there you go) and observe them for the holistic human beings they are, beyond what they want or are compelled to portray themselves to be. Beyond this, I can say that narratively the game succeeds at interrogating themes of victimhood, cyclical abuse, vengeance, hatred, and personal identity with strokes of deftness and occasionally nuance as needed and that is the greatest praise I could shoulder upon it. Light spoilers for The House in Fata Morgana follow so if you're interested in reading this VN completely blind, be warned.
Now I just said that Fata Morgana’s thematic strength in relation to its fully realized characters is its greatest strength but I can’t help but contradict myself just to express how enthusiastically I have to celebrate its character art, background art, and music. These components alone are what I imagine most immediately captures every person who even mildly likes this VN so I cannot stress enough how much I would understand the argument that these are its greatest accomplishments. Every piece of background art, at least for the PC version, expresses these rough impressionistic outlines of indoor and outdoor environments that can be equally as crude and grimy and stark in visual texture and color as they can be soft and dream-like and enigmatic. There's an appreciable contrast between these dappled, almost amorphous background shapes and the beautifully detailed, porcelain-like character art realized by Moyataro. In the landscape of visual novels the character art is immediately distinct, sure, but even more than that it often allows for the oft-unsettling atmosphere to permeate through characters such as The Maid, The White Haired Girl, the Beast, and the Witch whose entire physical existences reek of uncanniness or horror or both. The CGs must bear mention here as well because the painterly quality of the facially expressive character art as well as their posing and framing within stark backgrounds is unforgettable.
Now, perhaps the most pivotal element in contributing to Fata Morgana’s atmosphere, which is equal parts dour, chaotic, dreadful, ethereal and occasionally euphoric, is the music. It's also the aspect of the game I was immediately enamored by the moment the eponymous title track coincided with the opening title crawl. The most apparent strength of the soundtrack of this VN is its willingness to let the reader steep in despairing moods accompanied with discordant tracks that can at times grate against the ear or overwhelm with a sense of discomfort and eeriness. Not every song is appreciable outside of its game context but given the eclectic variety and the distinct place that every song has in the soundtrack, I wouldn’t have it any other way. There is an abundance of vocal tracks, most of which are sung in Portuguese by Japanese singers, with different affects and vocal effects placed on them. This is certainly an oddity within the space of VNs as I understand it, but it's one I welcome given the sheer ability of the singer(s) in every song. Speaking of song placement, I cannot neglect to mention that in the case of the first half of the game wherein the reader explores four different doors in varying locations and time periods, the soundtrack is curated in a way that each door to each setting also opens a portal to a distinct sonic palate that makes each one have a greater sense of identity both within the world and in my memory. Altogether, the entire soundtrack is worthwhile and one of my new favorites in a game; I revisit at least a portion of it nearly every day.
There’s an anthological vignette structure to the first half of the narrative that is ostensibly only loosely tied by the mystery of the player character’s identity. It’s within this framework that I think Fata Morgana is most consistently impressive in its effective creation of small period pieces reflecting on sort of tangential themes like class disparity, avarice, relationships and their need for communication, the nature of man, race and gender identity. Many of these themes, while carrying over between vignettes, don’t exactly get fully realized explorations unfortunately (such as class disparity and race), but they do serve to unflatteringly portray the blemishes of the people and period in a manner that is coherent and establishes societal systems as being quite influential in the production of discriminatory and heinous acts that take place later in the story. The second door that explores the reality of a nebulous and foreboding beast that the Maid is catering to in 1707 was an immediate highlight following a tonally and atmospherically successful first vignette that played a little too close into reader expectations without much characterization of the brother and sister beyond their roles as tragic figures. This is a criticism I have of the first door, albeit one that did not impede my enjoyment of the first few hours, but it's also a purposeful trend in the first four vignettes (called doors) that pays off fantastically by the end of the fourth door as the realization that these tales curated by the Maid with tragic tones and cruel ends and all too poetic finales serve a dual purpose in punishing the characters within and obfuscating the truth from the player character.
Around the halfway mark of the narrative, the game asks the player to make an almost superficial, inevitable choice, one with a much deeper emotional resonance that I only realized much later. Without leveraging spoilers to entice any potential future readers of The House in Fata Morgana, I want to make it explicitly clear that this game is queer. I obviously cannot speak for the writer themselves, but Fata Morgana itself is a story very much predicated on the experience and themes of gender nonconformity that speaks in equal parts to intersex people and transgender people; the narrative crux pivots around this as a core element and it can’t be ignored, especially because of how empathetic and surprisingly delicately the writer handles the topic. The distinction has to be made, of course, between intersex and transgender people but with the understanding that intersex people can also be transgender, it is through this lens that Fata Morgana explores gender identity and it acknowledges this difference. There is of course some discussion to be had about the portrayal of intersex and transgender peoples in situations of despair and suffering and oppression in media, and I as neither cannot speak to it genuinely so I leave that in the hands of actual intersex and transgender people to unpack. In my limited judgement though, I think Fata Morgana takes a few missteps of language and drags out some sequences of suffering in a way that mirrors some sluggish pacing in the second half of the story in general, but ultimately affirms and celebrates these identities in a way that is some of the most respectful I have seen in media.
Briefly, I want to touch on the core themes of abuse, victimhood, hatred, and forgiveness. These are all inextricably tied together but what I found most compelling about their implementation in Fata Morgana, specifically near the end, is that the game never relents to a strict “cycles of abuse perpetuate hatred and violence and ill will and thus everyone is equally culpable and in the end nobody is really at fault(or everybody is at fault)” sort of mentality. Many of the characters in the game are fully realized in ways that often don't make them agreeable or even tangentially good people by the game’s judgement. The reader is asked to accept these characters not for their cumulative goodness or likeability, but for the human beings who have done good, bad, and everything in between that they are. All that being said, the VN also makes sure to emphasize that it is always in the hands of the victim to weigh the heinousness of the acts done upon them and determine whether they can forgive or cast off their abuser entirely. Several characters offer several different perspectives and decisions when presented with this query but it never creates a situation wherein the victim is beholden to meet their abuser(s) halfway. I can’t speak for others obviously but this was an intensely gratifying stance to me that the game reinforced constantly.
A lot of the elements of the game were similarly gratifying to me in a way that coalesced into a whole that consistently affected me. Yes, I teared up and cried on more than one occasion. I have some minor misgivings with the pacing and overly grave tone of the second half of the story, the relatively safe ending even though I somewhat made peace with it, underutilization of several key characters who could have used more fleshing out, and with some details of its exploration of gender and sexuality. All that being said, none of these came together in a way that meaningfully detracted from The House In Fata Morgana’s messaging, its characters or thematic weight. Perhaps the biggest tragedy surrounding The House in Fata Morgana, despite its notoriety in visual novel circles, is how little its merits and (relatively minor, in my view) failings are discussed or dissected, even among those who have played it, outside of overt characteristics like its art and music. Considering that I produced this review as a passionate, spoiler-skirting entreaty to play this visual novel, I am perhaps no one to talk as well. Maybe this will foster more discussion from new and old readers, maybe it won’t. So long as I contribute to the dialogue and even one person picks up this wonderful game, I can’t really complain.
Now I just said that Fata Morgana’s thematic strength in relation to its fully realized characters is its greatest strength but I can’t help but contradict myself just to express how enthusiastically I have to celebrate its character art, background art, and music. These components alone are what I imagine most immediately captures every person who even mildly likes this VN so I cannot stress enough how much I would understand the argument that these are its greatest accomplishments. Every piece of background art, at least for the PC version, expresses these rough impressionistic outlines of indoor and outdoor environments that can be equally as crude and grimy and stark in visual texture and color as they can be soft and dream-like and enigmatic. There's an appreciable contrast between these dappled, almost amorphous background shapes and the beautifully detailed, porcelain-like character art realized by Moyataro. In the landscape of visual novels the character art is immediately distinct, sure, but even more than that it often allows for the oft-unsettling atmosphere to permeate through characters such as The Maid, The White Haired Girl, the Beast, and the Witch whose entire physical existences reek of uncanniness or horror or both. The CGs must bear mention here as well because the painterly quality of the facially expressive character art as well as their posing and framing within stark backgrounds is unforgettable.
Now, perhaps the most pivotal element in contributing to Fata Morgana’s atmosphere, which is equal parts dour, chaotic, dreadful, ethereal and occasionally euphoric, is the music. It's also the aspect of the game I was immediately enamored by the moment the eponymous title track coincided with the opening title crawl. The most apparent strength of the soundtrack of this VN is its willingness to let the reader steep in despairing moods accompanied with discordant tracks that can at times grate against the ear or overwhelm with a sense of discomfort and eeriness. Not every song is appreciable outside of its game context but given the eclectic variety and the distinct place that every song has in the soundtrack, I wouldn’t have it any other way. There is an abundance of vocal tracks, most of which are sung in Portuguese by Japanese singers, with different affects and vocal effects placed on them. This is certainly an oddity within the space of VNs as I understand it, but it's one I welcome given the sheer ability of the singer(s) in every song. Speaking of song placement, I cannot neglect to mention that in the case of the first half of the game wherein the reader explores four different doors in varying locations and time periods, the soundtrack is curated in a way that each door to each setting also opens a portal to a distinct sonic palate that makes each one have a greater sense of identity both within the world and in my memory. Altogether, the entire soundtrack is worthwhile and one of my new favorites in a game; I revisit at least a portion of it nearly every day.
There’s an anthological vignette structure to the first half of the narrative that is ostensibly only loosely tied by the mystery of the player character’s identity. It’s within this framework that I think Fata Morgana is most consistently impressive in its effective creation of small period pieces reflecting on sort of tangential themes like class disparity, avarice, relationships and their need for communication, the nature of man, race and gender identity. Many of these themes, while carrying over between vignettes, don’t exactly get fully realized explorations unfortunately (such as class disparity and race), but they do serve to unflatteringly portray the blemishes of the people and period in a manner that is coherent and establishes societal systems as being quite influential in the production of discriminatory and heinous acts that take place later in the story. The second door that explores the reality of a nebulous and foreboding beast that the Maid is catering to in 1707 was an immediate highlight following a tonally and atmospherically successful first vignette that played a little too close into reader expectations without much characterization of the brother and sister beyond their roles as tragic figures. This is a criticism I have of the first door, albeit one that did not impede my enjoyment of the first few hours, but it's also a purposeful trend in the first four vignettes (called doors) that pays off fantastically by the end of the fourth door as the realization that these tales curated by the Maid with tragic tones and cruel ends and all too poetic finales serve a dual purpose in punishing the characters within and obfuscating the truth from the player character.
Around the halfway mark of the narrative, the game asks the player to make an almost superficial, inevitable choice, one with a much deeper emotional resonance that I only realized much later. Without leveraging spoilers to entice any potential future readers of The House in Fata Morgana, I want to make it explicitly clear that this game is queer. I obviously cannot speak for the writer themselves, but Fata Morgana itself is a story very much predicated on the experience and themes of gender nonconformity that speaks in equal parts to intersex people and transgender people; the narrative crux pivots around this as a core element and it can’t be ignored, especially because of how empathetic and surprisingly delicately the writer handles the topic. The distinction has to be made, of course, between intersex and transgender people but with the understanding that intersex people can also be transgender, it is through this lens that Fata Morgana explores gender identity and it acknowledges this difference. There is of course some discussion to be had about the portrayal of intersex and transgender peoples in situations of despair and suffering and oppression in media, and I as neither cannot speak to it genuinely so I leave that in the hands of actual intersex and transgender people to unpack. In my limited judgement though, I think Fata Morgana takes a few missteps of language and drags out some sequences of suffering in a way that mirrors some sluggish pacing in the second half of the story in general, but ultimately affirms and celebrates these identities in a way that is some of the most respectful I have seen in media.
Briefly, I want to touch on the core themes of abuse, victimhood, hatred, and forgiveness. These are all inextricably tied together but what I found most compelling about their implementation in Fata Morgana, specifically near the end, is that the game never relents to a strict “cycles of abuse perpetuate hatred and violence and ill will and thus everyone is equally culpable and in the end nobody is really at fault(or everybody is at fault)” sort of mentality. Many of the characters in the game are fully realized in ways that often don't make them agreeable or even tangentially good people by the game’s judgement. The reader is asked to accept these characters not for their cumulative goodness or likeability, but for the human beings who have done good, bad, and everything in between that they are. All that being said, the VN also makes sure to emphasize that it is always in the hands of the victim to weigh the heinousness of the acts done upon them and determine whether they can forgive or cast off their abuser entirely. Several characters offer several different perspectives and decisions when presented with this query but it never creates a situation wherein the victim is beholden to meet their abuser(s) halfway. I can’t speak for others obviously but this was an intensely gratifying stance to me that the game reinforced constantly.
A lot of the elements of the game were similarly gratifying to me in a way that coalesced into a whole that consistently affected me. Yes, I teared up and cried on more than one occasion. I have some minor misgivings with the pacing and overly grave tone of the second half of the story, the relatively safe ending even though I somewhat made peace with it, underutilization of several key characters who could have used more fleshing out, and with some details of its exploration of gender and sexuality. All that being said, none of these came together in a way that meaningfully detracted from The House In Fata Morgana’s messaging, its characters or thematic weight. Perhaps the biggest tragedy surrounding The House in Fata Morgana, despite its notoriety in visual novel circles, is how little its merits and (relatively minor, in my view) failings are discussed or dissected, even among those who have played it, outside of overt characteristics like its art and music. Considering that I produced this review as a passionate, spoiler-skirting entreaty to play this visual novel, I am perhaps no one to talk as well. Maybe this will foster more discussion from new and old readers, maybe it won’t. So long as I contribute to the dialogue and even one person picks up this wonderful game, I can’t really complain.
They will never understand what its like to be a true social reject, a creep, a weirdo.they will never understand what its like to be Italian. Nobody understands me because i call movies "films". I am literally the joker, nobody understands me -Jacopo Bearzatti
Reflecting on this story, I come to find that no words can truly paint everything i felt and experienced through these characters, who despite being fiction, felt very human and real. My time reading through this will be remembered forever.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward my OTP
fuck
It's been a year since i finished The House in Fata Morgana and still to this day i regarded it as one of the greatest story ever written. From story development and unique characters and settings that are set in 3 time periods, with interconnected characters and stories to using modern Japanese with a little 'flavor' of language from ancient times, which makes The House in Fata Morgana adapted to the current era. All of that provides a tense, sad atmosphere and at the same time a bit of comedy. However, the story in Fata Morgana is available in 7 Bad Endings and 1 True Ending, where the true ending of this visual novel gave me a cool breeze for my heart which has been holding back emotions since the story began.
The House in Fata Morgana has 8 different stories to tell throughout the entire story or what they call them "door". The story is set in one main setting, an old mansion which has a dark history starting from the persecution of a girl known as a 'witch' to the story of the protagonist 'you' and the maid welcomes you, sees your condition, and offers to give you a tour, which she hopes will help you jog your memory. Each room leads to you viewing various memories of past events that have taken place there. These memories are quite memorable, and set the stage for future revelations, even if it’s quite subtle in how it does it.
The first story tells the story of a brother and sister who live peacefully and freely with their family, until a mysterious white-haired and red-eyed girl comes to become a servant for the family.
The second story is probably the darkest part in this story for me, it tells of a 'monster' known as a sadistic murderer who lives in the big old house and a girl who is the same as the first story but in a different form enters the mysterious house. This story is extremely gruesome and graphic. Is it not for the faint of heart and I felt a little sick reading it at times.
The third story tells a wealthy businessman and his estranged relationship with his wife and the story behind that estranged relationship. It’s an incredibly moving story that shows how even the very best and self-sacrificing people have limits, and everyone will eventually break.
And from the fourth door to the last door or the eighth door becomes the main story which will discuss the past of the 'witch' who haunt the mansion, the servant girl, and the main character 'you', as well as their relationship with the three stories in the initial opening.
All of these stories have incredibly tragic ends, that could have been avoided with some other decision be it better communication, honesty, or repentance. But they serve to introduce characters that have a long-lasting effect on the overarching narrative, as well as establish the relevance of the mansion and its curse. Describing even a word past chapter three or door three leads too far down spoiler territory to say any more so i won't go deep into that.
There is quite a bit of foreshadowing as you expect from mystery genre like other titles, in even the simplest of events, and the story takes the time it needs to expound on each character, story, and theme. And that what makes The House in Fata Morgana's storytelling excellent.
Then you add another fantastic element on top of the writing which is the music because holy macaroonis they ain't lying when they said you have to experience it with headphone in the loading screen. Each character, scene, and mood is properly represented with a theme, that is sometimes really eerie with noises and sound effects, other times a moody piano, and often with simply incredible female vocals like the soundtracks 'Giselle' and 'Cicio'. The words are all in an ancient dialect of Portuguese, and sound very Latin and mysterious. Some of the songs will make your hair stand up, while others sound nearly reverent.
What i learn from The House in Fata Morgana is that wherever and whenever a person are there are people who will love and care for them until they wait for us to return and be by their side, revenge is not a good thing but you have to let go of it and move forward in a better direction. Life is a difficult thing where sometimes we encounter bad things and even tragedy, but behind it all there is a beautiful story.
All in all, The House in Fata Morgana is one of those tales that is incredibly well written, mature, dark, and bloody that explore the deepest, darkest depths of depravity in the human soul. Even though at first I was not used to the realist images of this visual novel, in the end I realized that the realist images and the choice not to use voice actors for each character were so that players could enjoy the story, and for me personally this visual novel has parts that can answer questions in life. An unrushed story with the characters each having their own reasons and backstories that portrayed what is sacrificial love looks like.
The House in Fata Morgana has 8 different stories to tell throughout the entire story or what they call them "door". The story is set in one main setting, an old mansion which has a dark history starting from the persecution of a girl known as a 'witch' to the story of the protagonist 'you' and the maid welcomes you, sees your condition, and offers to give you a tour, which she hopes will help you jog your memory. Each room leads to you viewing various memories of past events that have taken place there. These memories are quite memorable, and set the stage for future revelations, even if it’s quite subtle in how it does it.
The first story tells the story of a brother and sister who live peacefully and freely with their family, until a mysterious white-haired and red-eyed girl comes to become a servant for the family.
The second story is probably the darkest part in this story for me, it tells of a 'monster' known as a sadistic murderer who lives in the big old house and a girl who is the same as the first story but in a different form enters the mysterious house. This story is extremely gruesome and graphic. Is it not for the faint of heart and I felt a little sick reading it at times.
The third story tells a wealthy businessman and his estranged relationship with his wife and the story behind that estranged relationship. It’s an incredibly moving story that shows how even the very best and self-sacrificing people have limits, and everyone will eventually break.
And from the fourth door to the last door or the eighth door becomes the main story which will discuss the past of the 'witch' who haunt the mansion, the servant girl, and the main character 'you', as well as their relationship with the three stories in the initial opening.
All of these stories have incredibly tragic ends, that could have been avoided with some other decision be it better communication, honesty, or repentance. But they serve to introduce characters that have a long-lasting effect on the overarching narrative, as well as establish the relevance of the mansion and its curse. Describing even a word past chapter three or door three leads too far down spoiler territory to say any more so i won't go deep into that.
There is quite a bit of foreshadowing as you expect from mystery genre like other titles, in even the simplest of events, and the story takes the time it needs to expound on each character, story, and theme. And that what makes The House in Fata Morgana's storytelling excellent.
Then you add another fantastic element on top of the writing which is the music because holy macaroonis they ain't lying when they said you have to experience it with headphone in the loading screen. Each character, scene, and mood is properly represented with a theme, that is sometimes really eerie with noises and sound effects, other times a moody piano, and often with simply incredible female vocals like the soundtracks 'Giselle' and 'Cicio'. The words are all in an ancient dialect of Portuguese, and sound very Latin and mysterious. Some of the songs will make your hair stand up, while others sound nearly reverent.
What i learn from The House in Fata Morgana is that wherever and whenever a person are there are people who will love and care for them until they wait for us to return and be by their side, revenge is not a good thing but you have to let go of it and move forward in a better direction. Life is a difficult thing where sometimes we encounter bad things and even tragedy, but behind it all there is a beautiful story.
All in all, The House in Fata Morgana is one of those tales that is incredibly well written, mature, dark, and bloody that explore the deepest, darkest depths of depravity in the human soul. Even though at first I was not used to the realist images of this visual novel, in the end I realized that the realist images and the choice not to use voice actors for each character were so that players could enjoy the story, and for me personally this visual novel has parts that can answer questions in life. An unrushed story with the characters each having their own reasons and backstories that portrayed what is sacrificial love looks like.
me at the maid: i am once again asking for your hand in marriage
Out of all visual novels, I would argue that fata is most akin to the Western Canon aka the "great classics" of literature (don quixote, shakepeare, edgar allen poe, dickens, etc.). It's a very, very, VERY difficult read, much more so than steins;gate or fate or clannad or any other highly rated visual novel. Part of it has to deal with the heavy philosophical undertones, multiple layers of narrative, and overall complex writing structure that the visual novel uses. Part of it is due to the heavy and serious topics the vn covers, as well as the complexity of the characters involved. No character is underdevelooped in this vn, in fact some may argue that characters are OVERdeveloped. Compared to any other vn, fata's characters (especially jacobo) feel a lot more "human" because of this extensive development.
a lot of the comments here really push me in the direction that fata morgana is the " visual novel for people who don't like visual novels " and lord help me should i ever choose to finish this, that i do not become an annoying person !!!!
i dont even have the words to describe how much emotional damage this vn brought me and i will definitely never recover from this
ok, genuine review this time.
the summary is extremely high highs and extremely and more frequently low lows.
the biggest issue is the awful quality of most scenes, I wish I can just say it was whatever but no it was just Bad and to add insult to injury awfully repetitive and drags on for way too long (the best example of this is door2)
but enough with negativity (there is a lot of it) the positive parts (not enough of it) were great and easily one of the best I've seen, but like I said there isnt enough of it, and unfortunately it does not justify the rest for me.
most of the characters are just bad (like most of the game shocking! except for a few who are really great.
my feelings throughout the game is either "kill me now!!!" or "kino!!!".
the first door was just boring and literally nothing interesting happen in it until the final stretch where it was just cool horror. Mell was just... painfully uninteresting protagonist going through an extremely boring romance, white-haired girl was the same as mell, and nellie was actually alright loved her villainous role in it.
door2... BAAAD pure and simple, interesting premise AWFUL execution and pacing like holy fuck how do you get a cool premise like bestia and fuck it up??? and god dont let me get on how repetitive every fucking character was!!! bestia, WHG, pauline and javi say the same exact thing a billion times throughout it!! and literally nothing else. I genuinely don't know how people like this.
door 3 is really fucking good!! I loved every character in it especially Jacopo like god damn how did the same guy write this?? and maria was an amazing supporting character and WHG was actually good this time!! this door humanizes Italians very well, but sadly all good things must come to an end and door 4 was meh! I kinda liked Michel but WHG went back to being bad. however, I liked the twist that happened right after!
not gonna mention the next doors because spoilerinos!
but I have a more positive feeling about them.
in conclusion, overhyped and boring! there's some good but 10 times the bad.
the summary is extremely high highs and extremely and more frequently low lows.
the biggest issue is the awful quality of most scenes, I wish I can just say it was whatever but no it was just Bad and to add insult to injury awfully repetitive and drags on for way too long (the best example of this is door2)
but enough with negativity (there is a lot of it) the positive parts (not enough of it) were great and easily one of the best I've seen, but like I said there isnt enough of it, and unfortunately it does not justify the rest for me.
most of the characters are just bad (like most of the game shocking! except for a few who are really great.
my feelings throughout the game is either "kill me now!!!" or "kino!!!".
the first door was just boring and literally nothing interesting happen in it until the final stretch where it was just cool horror. Mell was just... painfully uninteresting protagonist going through an extremely boring romance, white-haired girl was the same as mell, and nellie was actually alright loved her villainous role in it.
door2... BAAAD pure and simple, interesting premise AWFUL execution and pacing like holy fuck how do you get a cool premise like bestia and fuck it up??? and god dont let me get on how repetitive every fucking character was!!! bestia, WHG, pauline and javi say the same exact thing a billion times throughout it!! and literally nothing else. I genuinely don't know how people like this.
door 3 is really fucking good!! I loved every character in it especially Jacopo like god damn how did the same guy write this?? and maria was an amazing supporting character and WHG was actually good this time!! this door humanizes Italians very well, but sadly all good things must come to an end and door 4 was meh! I kinda liked Michel but WHG went back to being bad. however, I liked the twist that happened right after!
not gonna mention the next doors because spoilerinos!
but I have a more positive feeling about them.
in conclusion, overhyped and boring! there's some good but 10 times the bad.
Spoiler warning for events and plot points in The House in Fata Morgana that are best left for you to discover in your own playthrough first, as my comments here may undermine the experience for your own. You have been warned.
"𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥
...𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥."
Indisputably one of the strongest pieces of the visual novel medium, the haunting yet human narratives of Fata Morgana establish it as one of gothic fiction’s triumphs. There’s a decisive first impression during the course of FM’s “Act 1” that represents it’s tone and theme, and what the player is going to experience throughout. In it, we are presented with the revelation that during the mid-end of one of the Maid’s tales that a painting laid hanging in the adolescent Nellie Rhodes’ bedroom, depicting what used to be the two siblings side by side of each other, to be a prophecy, depicting the future in which Mell and the White Haired Girl are more related than we think. Following further events this reveal is somewhat insignificant and one of the title’s less shocking twists than to what the story later goes on to portray. Nonetheless this is the first example in which we see one of Fata Morgana’s key devices; the ambiguity and non-linear storytelling.
The game revels in its building of tension and mystery throughout its chapters. Things often need second glances and you’re often encouraged to witness events and characters and view them more as double entendres. You’re often flung twists and reveals, but to credit the writing none of them feel poor taste, and fortunately in the wider picture they fit in well. The ambiguity of the writing itself is also a double entendre of the character of Michel. The third person perspective of Doors 1-4 at first dictate how you believe the rest of the game is going to be, and unbeknownst to you perspective switches between “You” and the Maid in order to intentionally throw you off. We entrust conventional visual novel’s unspoken rules and conventions, only to our astonishment that our perception was false. Door 2 is purposefully skewed towards The Maid’s recount of the story (notice when she isn’t there during Pauline’s sequences) and the chronology of accounts is swapped and mismatched to accommodate reveals. However the perspective swapping also provides insights into characters and the overall synopsis that you wouldn’t see if the story was linearly one identity. Door 5 is the largest and grandest example most likely, as by benefitting from two perspectives we are able to understand Michel and Giselle’s blossoming relationship. Fata Morgana sometimes does the reverse, and provides only a singular perspective. Door 7 leads us only through Michel’s eyes so we can grasp only his emotions and intentions.
There’s undeniable immense credit that has to be given to the game’s atmosphere and tone. JoshTheFourth describes it as “neoclassical darkwave”, and even the comment was jokey in a sense, (if not, then I’m deeply sorry) there’s an ironic sense that the blend of newer and older genres only fit into a game about different point in a millennium. The game advises that you immerse yourself in its sound, only to provide often grimy, eerie and distilling moods upon the player. Most doors have different sounds and ways of expressing themselves to the reader - but all without a sense of.. Uncomfortableness. There’s also the blend of the newer and older art of Fata Morgana - backgrounds are often minimalistic and don’t insight much, but darkening colours and palette swaps to more sinister shades during pivotal moments create a deeper and foreboding tension. Character portraits seem almost too detailed in comparison - beautiful and frailish, lighter tones juxtaposed to the background. Some characters do not even have portraits - referred to only in the text screen below. A lot of what Fata Morgana does well is that, like most visual novels; actions and objects are mostly left to your imagination. This is why moments feel more anxious than they should, and more satisfying if you take more time to invest and put yourself into the game.
There were minor mentions and nods to themes earlier in this text, and I would like to apologise if my haphazard and sometimes lazy forms of writing don’t give the quite mature themes this game envisions the evaluation it deserves. In spite of that I would like to say the game handles these messages extremely effectively. There’s the overall arching theme of morality and humanity during the whole 30ish hours, but towards the end of the game we are shown this in a new light. Morgana’s core sentiment is that the three men are all morally black - unworthy of forgiveness and in that belief she casts them to eternal suffering. Michel argues there is no such thing, good people aren’t good, they do bad things. However he always puts Morgana, generally speaking the victim in this situation, first above all else. Fata Morgana asks that you don’t necessarily need to seek forgiveness in others, but content in yourself. Morgana in the end, has to accept the men and the others around her - and herself - as human, and Michel puts faith in others that although they are indeed flawed; they possess the abilities in themselves to take accountability for their bad characteristics. Unfortunately not everyone in the world is likeable (Michel describes himself as “grey” sometimes - and despite the red herring of the White Haired Girl of being morally… white, she is the subconscious of Morgana’s ideals of human), but by coming into terms and accepting people for who they are we are more likely to make peace with the inhumanly parts of ourselves we reject. There is indeed the rejection of your belonging in this world and striving towards the human in which you want to be. The three men’s plan was never to always to do wrong (their constant belief was that they were in the right) but by accepting these truths they transform into more humane characteristics of their previous selves. We see these in the stories too - Mell wanted to stay loved, the Swordsman truly wished for inner peace, Jacopo wished to be with the girl he cared for deeply. But these actions were inherently selfish, and had to be changed.
I struggle to comment on themes of gender identity, for I am not intersex myself and do not have the internal understanding that intersex people may have themselves to the story, but I would like to briefly comment on the game’s sensitive and supporting handling of such topics. But it is the unfortunate disparity that people recognise that Fata Morgana is often an exception when it comes to the views of gender and queer aspects in visual novel media. Though it may not be my place to comment, I hope intersex and people who may also identify themselves as transgender resonate with the nonconformity and exploration of gender that Fata Morgana empathetically provides.
A final theme that I would like to present here; love is a vital theme that exists through nearly all of Fata Morgana’s lapping plots and intricate storylines, and is somewhat hard to ignore its general significance. The multitudes of love present throughout also have different extents. Nellie’s love is more harmful than positive affection, to the point of seeping through and damaging the lives of those around her. Nell leans too much onto the love, despite him knowing that it’s unhealthy in their circumstance. Pauline’s love is almost blindsided - she’s unable to see the inhumane parts of the Swordsman within him, and vice versa where the Swordsman is using love selfishly to keep those parts hidden. Jacopo never acts in time and when he does, not truly what he wants to do, meaning he loses the White Haired Girl/Morgana. Although it is until the eight chapter when things are presumably resolved between the three, the Fifth Door allows all the events of time to flow into one. It is a breakaway of a gothic tradition. Despite losing each other for hundreds of years, Giselle and Michel will always love each other, and their love is enough for the lives around them to flourish and expand exponentially.
I would like to close this text by directly speaking to whoever is reading this to take a more rigorous look at Fata Morgana than I have here - there are many rich themes that are present as well that I haven’t described here without these paragraphs feeling bloated and without effort put in. If you’ve read up to here and have not played for yourself at least once, I strongly suggest that you still pick up and explore the mansion for yourself. A lot of what is written here is not effective if you haven’t experienced the emotions and mysteries of what lies in it, and despite some colossal spoilers for events some especially impressive moments have been left out. The House in Fata Morgana is simply ground-breaking; an interlinking of rich themes, atmospheric tones and narratives and subversions that create something that can only be made once in a generation.
… I don’t have a sufficient enough or impactful sentence to end things here, so I’d make the final statement that Michel and Giselle are quite adorable.
“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥…
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥,
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘴
𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘺
𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.”
"𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥
...𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥."
Indisputably one of the strongest pieces of the visual novel medium, the haunting yet human narratives of Fata Morgana establish it as one of gothic fiction’s triumphs. There’s a decisive first impression during the course of FM’s “Act 1” that represents it’s tone and theme, and what the player is going to experience throughout. In it, we are presented with the revelation that during the mid-end of one of the Maid’s tales that a painting laid hanging in the adolescent Nellie Rhodes’ bedroom, depicting what used to be the two siblings side by side of each other, to be a prophecy, depicting the future in which Mell and the White Haired Girl are more related than we think. Following further events this reveal is somewhat insignificant and one of the title’s less shocking twists than to what the story later goes on to portray. Nonetheless this is the first example in which we see one of Fata Morgana’s key devices; the ambiguity and non-linear storytelling.
The game revels in its building of tension and mystery throughout its chapters. Things often need second glances and you’re often encouraged to witness events and characters and view them more as double entendres. You’re often flung twists and reveals, but to credit the writing none of them feel poor taste, and fortunately in the wider picture they fit in well. The ambiguity of the writing itself is also a double entendre of the character of Michel. The third person perspective of Doors 1-4 at first dictate how you believe the rest of the game is going to be, and unbeknownst to you perspective switches between “You” and the Maid in order to intentionally throw you off. We entrust conventional visual novel’s unspoken rules and conventions, only to our astonishment that our perception was false. Door 2 is purposefully skewed towards The Maid’s recount of the story (notice when she isn’t there during Pauline’s sequences) and the chronology of accounts is swapped and mismatched to accommodate reveals. However the perspective swapping also provides insights into characters and the overall synopsis that you wouldn’t see if the story was linearly one identity. Door 5 is the largest and grandest example most likely, as by benefitting from two perspectives we are able to understand Michel and Giselle’s blossoming relationship. Fata Morgana sometimes does the reverse, and provides only a singular perspective. Door 7 leads us only through Michel’s eyes so we can grasp only his emotions and intentions.
There’s undeniable immense credit that has to be given to the game’s atmosphere and tone. JoshTheFourth describes it as “neoclassical darkwave”, and even the comment was jokey in a sense, (if not, then I’m deeply sorry) there’s an ironic sense that the blend of newer and older genres only fit into a game about different point in a millennium. The game advises that you immerse yourself in its sound, only to provide often grimy, eerie and distilling moods upon the player. Most doors have different sounds and ways of expressing themselves to the reader - but all without a sense of.. Uncomfortableness. There’s also the blend of the newer and older art of Fata Morgana - backgrounds are often minimalistic and don’t insight much, but darkening colours and palette swaps to more sinister shades during pivotal moments create a deeper and foreboding tension. Character portraits seem almost too detailed in comparison - beautiful and frailish, lighter tones juxtaposed to the background. Some characters do not even have portraits - referred to only in the text screen below. A lot of what Fata Morgana does well is that, like most visual novels; actions and objects are mostly left to your imagination. This is why moments feel more anxious than they should, and more satisfying if you take more time to invest and put yourself into the game.
There were minor mentions and nods to themes earlier in this text, and I would like to apologise if my haphazard and sometimes lazy forms of writing don’t give the quite mature themes this game envisions the evaluation it deserves. In spite of that I would like to say the game handles these messages extremely effectively. There’s the overall arching theme of morality and humanity during the whole 30ish hours, but towards the end of the game we are shown this in a new light. Morgana’s core sentiment is that the three men are all morally black - unworthy of forgiveness and in that belief she casts them to eternal suffering. Michel argues there is no such thing, good people aren’t good, they do bad things. However he always puts Morgana, generally speaking the victim in this situation, first above all else. Fata Morgana asks that you don’t necessarily need to seek forgiveness in others, but content in yourself. Morgana in the end, has to accept the men and the others around her - and herself - as human, and Michel puts faith in others that although they are indeed flawed; they possess the abilities in themselves to take accountability for their bad characteristics. Unfortunately not everyone in the world is likeable (Michel describes himself as “grey” sometimes - and despite the red herring of the White Haired Girl of being morally… white, she is the subconscious of Morgana’s ideals of human), but by coming into terms and accepting people for who they are we are more likely to make peace with the inhumanly parts of ourselves we reject. There is indeed the rejection of your belonging in this world and striving towards the human in which you want to be. The three men’s plan was never to always to do wrong (their constant belief was that they were in the right) but by accepting these truths they transform into more humane characteristics of their previous selves. We see these in the stories too - Mell wanted to stay loved, the Swordsman truly wished for inner peace, Jacopo wished to be with the girl he cared for deeply. But these actions were inherently selfish, and had to be changed.
I struggle to comment on themes of gender identity, for I am not intersex myself and do not have the internal understanding that intersex people may have themselves to the story, but I would like to briefly comment on the game’s sensitive and supporting handling of such topics. But it is the unfortunate disparity that people recognise that Fata Morgana is often an exception when it comes to the views of gender and queer aspects in visual novel media. Though it may not be my place to comment, I hope intersex and people who may also identify themselves as transgender resonate with the nonconformity and exploration of gender that Fata Morgana empathetically provides.
A final theme that I would like to present here; love is a vital theme that exists through nearly all of Fata Morgana’s lapping plots and intricate storylines, and is somewhat hard to ignore its general significance. The multitudes of love present throughout also have different extents. Nellie’s love is more harmful than positive affection, to the point of seeping through and damaging the lives of those around her. Nell leans too much onto the love, despite him knowing that it’s unhealthy in their circumstance. Pauline’s love is almost blindsided - she’s unable to see the inhumane parts of the Swordsman within him, and vice versa where the Swordsman is using love selfishly to keep those parts hidden. Jacopo never acts in time and when he does, not truly what he wants to do, meaning he loses the White Haired Girl/Morgana. Although it is until the eight chapter when things are presumably resolved between the three, the Fifth Door allows all the events of time to flow into one. It is a breakaway of a gothic tradition. Despite losing each other for hundreds of years, Giselle and Michel will always love each other, and their love is enough for the lives around them to flourish and expand exponentially.
I would like to close this text by directly speaking to whoever is reading this to take a more rigorous look at Fata Morgana than I have here - there are many rich themes that are present as well that I haven’t described here without these paragraphs feeling bloated and without effort put in. If you’ve read up to here and have not played for yourself at least once, I strongly suggest that you still pick up and explore the mansion for yourself. A lot of what is written here is not effective if you haven’t experienced the emotions and mysteries of what lies in it, and despite some colossal spoilers for events some especially impressive moments have been left out. The House in Fata Morgana is simply ground-breaking; an interlinking of rich themes, atmospheric tones and narratives and subversions that create something that can only be made once in a generation.
… I don’t have a sufficient enough or impactful sentence to end things here, so I’d make the final statement that Michel and Giselle are quite adorable.
“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥…
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥,
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘴
𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘺
𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.”
In my opinion, The House in Fata Morgana is one of the most earnest, sincere and respectful works of fiction I have played. It will make you feel all sorts of emotions through its intense and cathartic tragedies, hopeful and optimistic belief in its characters and to top it all off one of the most beautiful romances I have ever seen. The House in Fata Morgana is a story that takes place across almost 1000 years and delves into all matter of subjects such as discrimination, human nature, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and truth but none is focused on more than perspective as the game pulls back the curtain on all of its cast, thoroughly inspecting them, as it encourages and discusses the importance of coming to understand the circumstances that leads people to the decisions they make - no matter how much they may regret them.
Getting the obvious out of the way, the games presentation is out of this world. The setting is constantly shifting door to door as within each one comes a new era. Whether its 1603, a period of great improvement to the arts, 1707 in which sea trade, travel and discovery thrived or 1869 with great advancements in technology - the game manages to consistently adjust its presentation to fit the time and characters within it, perfectly encapsulating the atmosphere of the mansion in and outside the doors. The sprites are incredibly expressive, the backgrounds are quite distorted and muddy which serves to bring more focus to the characters on screen but also lean into the games gothic and horror elements and the music consists of 68 incredibly high-quality songs that don't shy away from occasionally using vocals - largely spoken in Portuguese. Everything visually and audio-wise just comes together so well it's hard not to get taken in by it all especially when one of the first songs that plays is apart of the best, which is aptly called The House in Fata Morgana.
"Events by themselves do not tell the whole story. Only when you take into account their circumstances, what they thought and felt, their perspectives—only then can you say you've reached the truth"
It wouldn't be a fitting review without discussing Fata Morganas biggest strength, which is its cast. As mentioned earlier, the game lays bare all of its characters thoughts, feelings and emotions for us to see, and it's through this deep exploration of the cast that produces fascinating fleshed out characters coupled with very human interactions, and with this showcase of its characters presents and pasts, the game is able to touch upon an array of themes and subjects that I can only say were handled incredibly well, and treated with the utmost respect. Love is a core part of Fata Morgana and is a major theme consistently shown through the cast, and while the game does show off its beauty it also shows off negative aspects of it, such as the hypocrisy that can be born from love, how love can blind you to another persons faults, or the effects of not talking out issues. Another theme is victimhood, and how the game makes it known that recovery can be a long process, with forgiveness being something that shouldn't be expected but can happen so long as that person makes the choice - they are not obligated to forgive those who have wronged them so deeply, but moving on is very important.
This character-driven plot of The House in Fata Morgana ultimately allows it to unravel its core theme of perspective. How often do we immediately lash out or think negatively of those who have wronged us, seeing them as just the person in front of us, rather than looking at them through the lens of what circumstances might have led them to do what they did? What is the foundation of their actions? Beneath every character in Fata Morgana exists ghosts from the past that haunt their future, phantoms that take the form of previous harmful words and actions, ones they may regret, ones they may not, and yet the game understands that rather than simply categorising these actions into terms such as "good" or "evil" , and that such black and white judgement doesn't exist, it's more important to recognise the basis of them. It could be down to coercion and blackmail, misplaced emotion or the long-term effects of institutions. It may be a simple message, but its an important one nonetheless to come to an understanding with those around you, allowing yourself to see a person from a different perspective might entirely change yours. It is truly remarkable how many different subjects the game explores that is due to its fantastic characters, and furthermore how tactfully each subject is approached.
The House in Fata Morgana's narrative is made up of 1 major route, and while the story does take a long while to show its true colours, that shouldn't discourage you from playing through it as the story is incredibly well-rounded with every section of the game being recontextualized overtime. So much carries meaning throughout, with multiple moments of foreshadowing being present in the earlier parts of the game. It may appear melancholy often, but The House in Fata Morgana is truly a hopeful tale that never gives up, its human to a fault and you will be hard pressed to not find some relation to any of the characters. Mechanically the game has some great features, the choices are interesting (namely the usage of timed choices) and the backlog in certain moments is used to enhance the games mystery which is nice. It also consists of numerous bad and dead endings which may occur due to the wrong choice, they're actually pretty good and provide some very haunting but interesting what-if scenarios.
Outside some minor issues with areas of the game that drag for too long, dialogue where the characters don't speak like they would in their respective time periods and some characters needing a bit more time to their backstories, none of these issues are enough to truly take anything away from the extremely gratifying experience that is The House in Fata Morgana. Don't let the games slow start scare you, this game is truly one of a kind that everyone should pick up. It made me euphoric, it made me distraught - and it also made me cry multiple times, something I respect any game for doing.
Getting the obvious out of the way, the games presentation is out of this world. The setting is constantly shifting door to door as within each one comes a new era. Whether its 1603, a period of great improvement to the arts, 1707 in which sea trade, travel and discovery thrived or 1869 with great advancements in technology - the game manages to consistently adjust its presentation to fit the time and characters within it, perfectly encapsulating the atmosphere of the mansion in and outside the doors. The sprites are incredibly expressive, the backgrounds are quite distorted and muddy which serves to bring more focus to the characters on screen but also lean into the games gothic and horror elements and the music consists of 68 incredibly high-quality songs that don't shy away from occasionally using vocals - largely spoken in Portuguese. Everything visually and audio-wise just comes together so well it's hard not to get taken in by it all especially when one of the first songs that plays is apart of the best, which is aptly called The House in Fata Morgana.
"Events by themselves do not tell the whole story. Only when you take into account their circumstances, what they thought and felt, their perspectives—only then can you say you've reached the truth"
It wouldn't be a fitting review without discussing Fata Morganas biggest strength, which is its cast. As mentioned earlier, the game lays bare all of its characters thoughts, feelings and emotions for us to see, and it's through this deep exploration of the cast that produces fascinating fleshed out characters coupled with very human interactions, and with this showcase of its characters presents and pasts, the game is able to touch upon an array of themes and subjects that I can only say were handled incredibly well, and treated with the utmost respect. Love is a core part of Fata Morgana and is a major theme consistently shown through the cast, and while the game does show off its beauty it also shows off negative aspects of it, such as the hypocrisy that can be born from love, how love can blind you to another persons faults, or the effects of not talking out issues. Another theme is victimhood, and how the game makes it known that recovery can be a long process, with forgiveness being something that shouldn't be expected but can happen so long as that person makes the choice - they are not obligated to forgive those who have wronged them so deeply, but moving on is very important.
This character-driven plot of The House in Fata Morgana ultimately allows it to unravel its core theme of perspective. How often do we immediately lash out or think negatively of those who have wronged us, seeing them as just the person in front of us, rather than looking at them through the lens of what circumstances might have led them to do what they did? What is the foundation of their actions? Beneath every character in Fata Morgana exists ghosts from the past that haunt their future, phantoms that take the form of previous harmful words and actions, ones they may regret, ones they may not, and yet the game understands that rather than simply categorising these actions into terms such as "good" or "evil" , and that such black and white judgement doesn't exist, it's more important to recognise the basis of them. It could be down to coercion and blackmail, misplaced emotion or the long-term effects of institutions. It may be a simple message, but its an important one nonetheless to come to an understanding with those around you, allowing yourself to see a person from a different perspective might entirely change yours. It is truly remarkable how many different subjects the game explores that is due to its fantastic characters, and furthermore how tactfully each subject is approached.
The House in Fata Morgana's narrative is made up of 1 major route, and while the story does take a long while to show its true colours, that shouldn't discourage you from playing through it as the story is incredibly well-rounded with every section of the game being recontextualized overtime. So much carries meaning throughout, with multiple moments of foreshadowing being present in the earlier parts of the game. It may appear melancholy often, but The House in Fata Morgana is truly a hopeful tale that never gives up, its human to a fault and you will be hard pressed to not find some relation to any of the characters. Mechanically the game has some great features, the choices are interesting (namely the usage of timed choices) and the backlog in certain moments is used to enhance the games mystery which is nice. It also consists of numerous bad and dead endings which may occur due to the wrong choice, they're actually pretty good and provide some very haunting but interesting what-if scenarios.
Outside some minor issues with areas of the game that drag for too long, dialogue where the characters don't speak like they would in their respective time periods and some characters needing a bit more time to their backstories, none of these issues are enough to truly take anything away from the extremely gratifying experience that is The House in Fata Morgana. Don't let the games slow start scare you, this game is truly one of a kind that everyone should pick up. It made me euphoric, it made me distraught - and it also made me cry multiple times, something I respect any game for doing.
poverty umineko
heartwrenchingly tragic, unflinching and brutal, and one of the greatest love stories ever told. incredibly solid soundtrack, to boot.
fatamoru has one of THE most rewarding true endings ive ever experienced in a game period. watching everything fall into place the further in i got was an experience like not a whole lot else ive read. its really something special, and a game i hold close to my heart for giving me a big push and a lot of courage almost 4 years ago when i sorely needed it.
fatamoru has one of THE most rewarding true endings ive ever experienced in a game period. watching everything fall into place the further in i got was an experience like not a whole lot else ive read. its really something special, and a game i hold close to my heart for giving me a big push and a lot of courage almost 4 years ago when i sorely needed it.
there's a sort of expectation that comes with the majority of visual novels and their treatment of women and queer characters; sort of a roll-of-the-eyes, "well, it's just the lay of the land" expectation that even some of the best titles that the genre has to offer fall into. it's that way in jrpgs, too, which have lent themselves to some of the most expansive and intricate narratives i've ever experienced... yet this is a piece that kind of seems to come "with the territory" for most landmarks in the medium. it came as some surprise to me, then, that the house in fata morgana arrives with as much empathy, passion, and blatant progression in the ways of feminist and queer storytelling within its medium. this sort of rhetoric may be anticipated more from independent releases in the decade that has followed the house of fata morgana's release, but here it was in 2012, so open and so loving in its approach. it's astounding.
rather than indulge length for the sake of more intricate or convoluted narrative, fata morgana has one major route and it's better for it. much time is spent with fata morgana's secondary and tertiary characters, but the main duo encompasses so much of the thematic and dramatic storytelling that you really end up feeling as if you've spent these years, years and years with them. an era-hopping adventure awaits these two and the amount of care in truly making each of these scenarios feel weighty and relevant is some of the best i've ever experienced in video games. fata morgana essentially has no filler, which is remarkable considering how many moments are essentially retold through another perpsective down the line. it's not that the story itself is convoluted, it's the myraid of contextual facts and viewpoints that convolute what to feel, how to interpret, and how to siphon the meaning and weight of those events where fata morgana finds its strength.
the actual structure of the game itself is pretty genius. as i mentioned, fata morgana has a single cohesive route, and the choices to get you there are pretty minimal, but that's fine. where the cohesion and impact lies is within the pacing itself. the first maybe six hours of my time with the game served as context for the house itself, experiencing the lives of those inhabitants, heirs, and usurpers of the rose-petaled manor. in those sequences, i began to appreciate the influences fata morgana adapted and drew from; no doubt including classic anime such as the rose of versailles, berserk, revolutionary girl utena, and basically any and all of naoki urasawa's early work. the thematically diverse revues which open up the mansion and familiarize the reader with not just the stories, but the rooms, halls, doorways, and secrets of the mansion itself are remarkable atmospheric storytelling which i can't say even similar indie titles such as edith finch manage to achieve, let alone in a similar runtime. the mansion truly comes alive and almost begins to feel like a character in and of itself, but it's that revelation about six hours in that this was all outside of the curtains, and what lays behind them is the TRUE beginning of this timeless narrative, where i began to understand the weight and finesse with which fata morgana has mastered the art of the visual novel. and trust me, if you've only played through the three door sequences, you haven't even begun to understand just how expertly this game is about to play out.
friends, there very well never be a love story told in gaming as passionate and beautiful as the main crux of the house in fata morgana. this is a story that for reasons regrettable and favorable i find myself and my love in. it is a story of tragedies, some of which i've shared in my own life. there are triumphs i felt genuinely warm and good about inside. the peaks of fata morgana are some of the most emotionally enlightening experiences i've ever had with art. this isn't just a game visual novel enthusiasts should be playing. the presentation is gorgeous, the soundtrack is among the finest ever produced for a video game, the story is beyond gripping and captivating, the characters are earnestly written and unforgettable. if it hasn't already been established by its fervently growing reputation, acclaim and fanbase, let me speak this truth to you now; the house in fata morgana is one of the all-time greats, and likely the greatest visual novel i've ever played to completion. it's one of the best video games and one of the best works of fiction i've ever experienced. there IS a house in fata morgana, and i will never forget the time i've spent within its halls.
rather than indulge length for the sake of more intricate or convoluted narrative, fata morgana has one major route and it's better for it. much time is spent with fata morgana's secondary and tertiary characters, but the main duo encompasses so much of the thematic and dramatic storytelling that you really end up feeling as if you've spent these years, years and years with them. an era-hopping adventure awaits these two and the amount of care in truly making each of these scenarios feel weighty and relevant is some of the best i've ever experienced in video games. fata morgana essentially has no filler, which is remarkable considering how many moments are essentially retold through another perpsective down the line. it's not that the story itself is convoluted, it's the myraid of contextual facts and viewpoints that convolute what to feel, how to interpret, and how to siphon the meaning and weight of those events where fata morgana finds its strength.
the actual structure of the game itself is pretty genius. as i mentioned, fata morgana has a single cohesive route, and the choices to get you there are pretty minimal, but that's fine. where the cohesion and impact lies is within the pacing itself. the first maybe six hours of my time with the game served as context for the house itself, experiencing the lives of those inhabitants, heirs, and usurpers of the rose-petaled manor. in those sequences, i began to appreciate the influences fata morgana adapted and drew from; no doubt including classic anime such as the rose of versailles, berserk, revolutionary girl utena, and basically any and all of naoki urasawa's early work. the thematically diverse revues which open up the mansion and familiarize the reader with not just the stories, but the rooms, halls, doorways, and secrets of the mansion itself are remarkable atmospheric storytelling which i can't say even similar indie titles such as edith finch manage to achieve, let alone in a similar runtime. the mansion truly comes alive and almost begins to feel like a character in and of itself, but it's that revelation about six hours in that this was all outside of the curtains, and what lays behind them is the TRUE beginning of this timeless narrative, where i began to understand the weight and finesse with which fata morgana has mastered the art of the visual novel. and trust me, if you've only played through the three door sequences, you haven't even begun to understand just how expertly this game is about to play out.
friends, there very well never be a love story told in gaming as passionate and beautiful as the main crux of the house in fata morgana. this is a story that for reasons regrettable and favorable i find myself and my love in. it is a story of tragedies, some of which i've shared in my own life. there are triumphs i felt genuinely warm and good about inside. the peaks of fata morgana are some of the most emotionally enlightening experiences i've ever had with art. this isn't just a game visual novel enthusiasts should be playing. the presentation is gorgeous, the soundtrack is among the finest ever produced for a video game, the story is beyond gripping and captivating, the characters are earnestly written and unforgettable. if it hasn't already been established by its fervently growing reputation, acclaim and fanbase, let me speak this truth to you now; the house in fata morgana is one of the all-time greats, and likely the greatest visual novel i've ever played to completion. it's one of the best video games and one of the best works of fiction i've ever experienced. there IS a house in fata morgana, and i will never forget the time i've spent within its halls.
i’ve kind of lost the motivation to write anything long-form (or really any length) on this site but i do want to reflect on this one a little bit, and i hope you’ll excuse me if i sound like i’m superficially regurgitating what others have already shared.
anyway fatamoru is undeniably human at the end of the day; about how people aren’t born their current selves (whether they be “good” or “bad” in the eyes of some) and that there are always underlying circumstances that turned them into who they are today. the truth is a “weapon” — but not weapon-ized against others as it can so conspicuously be within popular works in this genre — no, the truth is not just something for an opposing force to use against those who experienced it, rather more deeply as an empathetic connection between people that is only a weapon if those who experienced it find resolve in burying it apprehensively. accepting reality and facing it head-on can be just as painful as the reality itself. no matter how dark it gets… there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. fatamoru is shockingly depressing and at times just absolutely fucking soul-crushing. at the same time, through all of the tragedy that it establishes, it still ignites some hopeful inspiration. everything does maintain a believable — and oftentimes relatable — level of realism as well that is probably the core of what makes the narrative hurt as much as it does. everything also has purpose: plenty of red herrings or details that spring up in the first half seem impossibly linked to the story but become completely logical and crucial inclusions by the end. i’m at a loss of what else i could mention so i guess i can briefly praise the characters. i don’t think there was a single one i didn’t find some form of relatability in or flat out didn’t like. they’re all distinctly special in their own ways. each with personal strategies to try and stay grounded among a world so cruel in their eyes. the value of perspective is a central theme throughout. this story fucked me up in more ways than one and i don’t think this will be an experience i’ll easily forget. i do still want to think about it more. this came to me at the right time in my life similarly to something like twewy when i played that a few years ago. shoutouts to the soundtrack for introducing me to “neoclassical darkwave.”
anyway fatamoru is undeniably human at the end of the day; about how people aren’t born their current selves (whether they be “good” or “bad” in the eyes of some) and that there are always underlying circumstances that turned them into who they are today. the truth is a “weapon” — but not weapon-ized against others as it can so conspicuously be within popular works in this genre — no, the truth is not just something for an opposing force to use against those who experienced it, rather more deeply as an empathetic connection between people that is only a weapon if those who experienced it find resolve in burying it apprehensively. accepting reality and facing it head-on can be just as painful as the reality itself. no matter how dark it gets… there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. fatamoru is shockingly depressing and at times just absolutely fucking soul-crushing. at the same time, through all of the tragedy that it establishes, it still ignites some hopeful inspiration. everything does maintain a believable — and oftentimes relatable — level of realism as well that is probably the core of what makes the narrative hurt as much as it does. everything also has purpose: plenty of red herrings or details that spring up in the first half seem impossibly linked to the story but become completely logical and crucial inclusions by the end. i’m at a loss of what else i could mention so i guess i can briefly praise the characters. i don’t think there was a single one i didn’t find some form of relatability in or flat out didn’t like. they’re all distinctly special in their own ways. each with personal strategies to try and stay grounded among a world so cruel in their eyes. the value of perspective is a central theme throughout. this story fucked me up in more ways than one and i don’t think this will be an experience i’ll easily forget. i do still want to think about it more. this came to me at the right time in my life similarly to something like twewy when i played that a few years ago. shoutouts to the soundtrack for introducing me to “neoclassical darkwave.”
Down the winding forest path leading deep into the woods, the blue, green, and orange van sputtered as it made contact with the road’s various protrusions; that is to say, if it could even be called a “road” at all. Perhaps another word would better suit the zig-zagging trail of dirt stretching into the heart of that interminable tree line.
Grinding to a halt in front of a large, peculiar mansion – seemingly displaced from centuries prior – the automobile unceremoniously gave up the ghost.
“Like, where are we?” the young man in the green shirt inquired of his four companions. He was not what one might typically describe as handsome, but there was a certain allure to his lanky appendages, scraggly beard, and… unique voice. It is entirely possible that, with a fair amount of grooming, he could be considered modestly attractive.
“I’m not sure,” replied the man with the orange ascot, “but it seems we lucked out – there’s a large house not twenty yards in front of us!” His cocksure demeanor and optimism instantly made apparent his friend’s lack of masculinity by comparison, though there was something vaguely irritating about the way he spoke.
“Gosh, that sure is a creepy old mansion, though,” interjected the woman wearing a purple mini-dress. She was conventionally beautiful – suspiciously so, in fact – but did not outwardly project any positive traits aside from that. It was obvious from the way she and the previous speaker made eye contact that they were regularly engaging in carnal relations.
Turning to a page in the large textbook she had been lugging around, the bespectacled, orange turtleneck-clad young woman spoke next. “Jinkies! According to the Encyclopedia of Haunted 10th Century Estates, that’s the House in Fata Morgana!” She gave off the impression of being a know-it-all, but not to the point of inherent obnoxiousness; she was simply well-read.
“Ruh rouse in rhat now?” the final passenger of the doomed vehicle asked. This one was not a human at all, but a brown dog covered in black spots. (Though my knowledge of the animal kingdom is embarrassingly limited, my impression is that he was a canine of the Great Dane variety.) None of the other four seemed at all surprised that he could communicate in English, however broken it may have been.
“The House in Fata Morgana,” the bespectacled woman repeated. “It says here that a witch lives there!”
“Wow, that sounds perfect, doesn’t it gang!?” the beascoted man exclaimed in response. He appeared to be the leader of the merry band.
“A r-ritch?” the dog responded, noticeably frightened.
“Now, xxxxxx, everyone knows witches aren’t real!” the woman in purple reassured.
“Oh, and not just any witch – a cursed witch!” the bookish young lady clarified.
“Zoinks! A r-regular witch is bad enough! Like, count me out,” the skinny coward declared, promptly exiting through the back door of the van.
“Reah, me too,” the Great Dane quickly nodded in agreement, following suit. However, the moment his quadrupedal frame touched the ground, he gave a quick glance back toward the mansion, and froze in place. The green shirted-boy was already long gone, dashing down the road.
“What is it, xxxxx?” the leader asked of his faithful hound.
“I… reel rompelled to renter… Romething is rrawing me roward it…” the dog replied in a hushed tone, his voice quivering.
[A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story, please comment and subscribe if you’d like to see more! Sorry this one is so rushed, I only had a few minutes to work on it this week because my grandpa is in the hospital (my dad poisoned him so we could inherit his property, but don’t tell him I found out!). I promise the next one will be better! ^___^]
Grinding to a halt in front of a large, peculiar mansion – seemingly displaced from centuries prior – the automobile unceremoniously gave up the ghost.
“Like, where are we?” the young man in the green shirt inquired of his four companions. He was not what one might typically describe as handsome, but there was a certain allure to his lanky appendages, scraggly beard, and… unique voice. It is entirely possible that, with a fair amount of grooming, he could be considered modestly attractive.
“I’m not sure,” replied the man with the orange ascot, “but it seems we lucked out – there’s a large house not twenty yards in front of us!” His cocksure demeanor and optimism instantly made apparent his friend’s lack of masculinity by comparison, though there was something vaguely irritating about the way he spoke.
“Gosh, that sure is a creepy old mansion, though,” interjected the woman wearing a purple mini-dress. She was conventionally beautiful – suspiciously so, in fact – but did not outwardly project any positive traits aside from that. It was obvious from the way she and the previous speaker made eye contact that they were regularly engaging in carnal relations.
Turning to a page in the large textbook she had been lugging around, the bespectacled, orange turtleneck-clad young woman spoke next. “Jinkies! According to the Encyclopedia of Haunted 10th Century Estates, that’s the House in Fata Morgana!” She gave off the impression of being a know-it-all, but not to the point of inherent obnoxiousness; she was simply well-read.
“Ruh rouse in rhat now?” the final passenger of the doomed vehicle asked. This one was not a human at all, but a brown dog covered in black spots. (Though my knowledge of the animal kingdom is embarrassingly limited, my impression is that he was a canine of the Great Dane variety.) None of the other four seemed at all surprised that he could communicate in English, however broken it may have been.
“The House in Fata Morgana,” the bespectacled woman repeated. “It says here that a witch lives there!”
“Wow, that sounds perfect, doesn’t it gang!?” the beascoted man exclaimed in response. He appeared to be the leader of the merry band.
“A r-ritch?” the dog responded, noticeably frightened.
“Now, xxxxxx, everyone knows witches aren’t real!” the woman in purple reassured.
“Oh, and not just any witch – a cursed witch!” the bookish young lady clarified.
“Zoinks! A r-regular witch is bad enough! Like, count me out,” the skinny coward declared, promptly exiting through the back door of the van.
“Reah, me too,” the Great Dane quickly nodded in agreement, following suit. However, the moment his quadrupedal frame touched the ground, he gave a quick glance back toward the mansion, and froze in place. The green shirted-boy was already long gone, dashing down the road.
“What is it, xxxxx?” the leader asked of his faithful hound.
“I… reel rompelled to renter… Romething is rrawing me roward it…” the dog replied in a hushed tone, his voice quivering.
[A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story, please comment and subscribe if you’d like to see more! Sorry this one is so rushed, I only had a few minutes to work on it this week because my grandpa is in the hospital (my dad poisoned him so we could inherit his property, but don’t tell him I found out!). I promise the next one will be better! ^___^]
there is a house in fata morgana, and every day i am paying emotional rent for it
CW: Incest, assault, sexual violence
Spoilers for Chapter One.
Completed the first “door” and decided I wouldn’t finish the game; everything I say in this review is limited to that opening vignette. What’s set up here is certainly well-intentioned: three central characters, each on the verge of adulthood and trapped by the rigidly defined gender roles and class structures of their 1600s environment and bearing the weight of several conflicting needs. However, in the two hours I spent with Fata Morgana, the game world’s overarching patriarchal capitalist system isn’t seriously interrogated or explored. There are a number of supporting adult characters subtly maintaining the oppressive framework: the priest insisting Mell marry within his class, Nellie’s chosen fiancée Arthur, solely interested in keeping up appearances, Nellie and Mell’s parents, the owners of the house exerting their influence from afar; a larger societal order and hierarchy are clearly hinted at, offering a possible canvas for the game to seize upon the concrete mechanics undergirding this type of systematic oppression, perhaps even explore potential solutions. This isn’t something Fata Morgana seems to be interested in, however: the characters perpetuating the system either have no lines at all (the mother and father) or only speak from off-screen! We only receive surface-level insight into this world’s politics and social dynamics, which is enough to rationalize the chain of events presented in the plot, but bereft of any deeper knowledge or meaning for the reader to extract.
We’re therefore presented with a relatively narrow character drama. This isn’t a flaw with the story necessarily — whatever you end up focusing on, it just needs to be compelling somehow. Unfortunately, what we do get is incredibly banal squabbles and eyeroll-inducing escalations that feel designed for shock value rather than to provide deeper insight. “Why won’t you spend more time with me dearest brother, you’re the only one for me,” “Okay number one that’s weird (you’re my sister,) number two I just fell in love with this white-haired chick at first sight,” “Didn’t you tell me you haven’t even met her yet? 🤨” “Uhm uhm.” In a word, the level of emotional strife and disagreeing motivations here comes across as juvenile; you might say this is because these characters are literally kids and that that’s kind of the point, but that’s not actually what I mean. It feels quaint to be reading this unremarkable back-and-forth dialogue about who spends too much time with whom, who has feelings for whom and who is instantly bewitched by whose beauty in a game about conventionally attractive people regularly described as such; specifically when you have books and films like A Girl on the Shore or How to Have Sex that navigate what I find to be much more challenging and actually-applicable-to-real-life topics like the intersection of romance, the craving for bodily intimacy and self-worth in subtle, artful and original ways. I’m throwing around a lot of adjectives here so I hope you’ll just see where I’m coming from and not ask for more specific scene-analyses LOL but I suppose this point in particular I’d be curious to hear more thoughts on.
To get at least a little more specific, Nellie’s character is a painful example of the jealous-friendzoned-girl doing a textbook version of the “I’m gonna pull some strings to make my object of desire think he has no chance with the bitch I’m competing with” trope. The misunderstandings pile up in the exact way you’d expect, until Nellie, devastated by the arranged marriage looming over her head and Mell’s apathy toward the situation, suffers a psychotic episode in which she physically assaults the white-haired girl and makes an explicitly sexual, non-consensual advance toward her brother. Since I’m critiquing the effectiveness and value of this type of writing, I feel the need to point out that any given player’s reaction to this arc will be incredibly subjective. If Metacritic and backloggd are any indication, you’ll likely have left off with a much different impression than I did, and it may be hard to see where I’m coming from (maybe you can tell that this is very different from my usual mechanics-focused analyses and that I have to reason from a mostly emotional angle LOL.) The argument I will make is that Nellie is an undeniable victim of an oppressive system, and yet she’s the only character in this self-contained story to carry out serious physical violence against another victim; and to me this does not function as effective critique of the system! (Quick aside, I had a very similar issue with Last Night in Soho’s final third and that shit seems way less bad in comparison now LOL) Instead, it comes across as unsympathetic and callous. Nellie is not just trapped by the patriarchy, but her incestual feelings toward Mell, and rather than seriously explore the internal whirlwind and self-analysis you’d expect to be part of that experience in any kind of depth, it genuinely feels more-so used as a way to gross out the player and lean into incredibly distasteful “freaky” Yandere iconography.
I can lay out all the plot beats and see the themes that are being touched on and understand the rationalizations being presented, but it doesn’t change the fact that presentation is narrative just as much as that Wikipedia summary. And in presentation, moment-to-moment, what I played of Fata Morgana rarely reaches past shallow, puerile and cowardly. I say “rarely” because as eyeroll-worthy as the aforementioned love-at-first-sight dynamic between Mell and the white-haired girl is, once they did confess their feelings to each other I couldn’t help but be surprisingly endeared by the hopelessly romantic prose and sensitive staging employed by the scene. The strength, or lack thereof, of the white-haired girl’s grip over Mell’s neck is something visual novels are uniquely poised to convey, in this case by suddenly flipping between slight alterations in otherwise static illustrations and buoy them with careful descriptions of subtle movements and bodily expressions.
But I also said the game was cowardly, because I can’t help but question its worldview when it chooses to have the white-haired girl “disfigured” by Nellie and then completely refuses to show her on-screen again from that point forward. I already noted earlier that Fata Morgana places repeated emphasis on conventional beauty, and flirting with this topic so much while blatantly skirting around any kind of alternative portrayal seems damning in my eyes. Mell’s assurances that he’ll love her regardless of her appearance can only read as hollow when the game doesn’t even seem to love its own characters enough to give them that kind of respect.
Fata Morgana consisting of, to my knowledge, at least a few largely self-contained stories has me relatively confident in the validity of this review; the main game does not revisit this particular scenario past what I played from what I understand. You might still think that this is shaky ground for me to stand on, but the entire point I hope I made here is that as a storyteller, you’re communicating things to your audience from minute one. If this opening isn’t an accurate representation of the game as a whole, then what was the point of it? If I’m to expect crucial subversions deeper into the story, how am I supposed to believe that they are any more tasteful or substantive than the dramatic turns utilized here? If the game spends two hours on this completely unoriginal love triangle, how will it tackle more difficult subjects? I’ve experienced complete, rich stories in that time-span, stories that consider their themes just as much as their form. I can certainly have Fata Morgana’s themes explained to me by its fans and acknowledge the sincerity ultimately laying beneath, but what I really needed in those two hours is for Novectacle to convince me they’re equipped to tell this kind of story; and I can’t say that I am.
Spoilers for Chapter One.
Completed the first “door” and decided I wouldn’t finish the game; everything I say in this review is limited to that opening vignette. What’s set up here is certainly well-intentioned: three central characters, each on the verge of adulthood and trapped by the rigidly defined gender roles and class structures of their 1600s environment and bearing the weight of several conflicting needs. However, in the two hours I spent with Fata Morgana, the game world’s overarching patriarchal capitalist system isn’t seriously interrogated or explored. There are a number of supporting adult characters subtly maintaining the oppressive framework: the priest insisting Mell marry within his class, Nellie’s chosen fiancée Arthur, solely interested in keeping up appearances, Nellie and Mell’s parents, the owners of the house exerting their influence from afar; a larger societal order and hierarchy are clearly hinted at, offering a possible canvas for the game to seize upon the concrete mechanics undergirding this type of systematic oppression, perhaps even explore potential solutions. This isn’t something Fata Morgana seems to be interested in, however: the characters perpetuating the system either have no lines at all (the mother and father) or only speak from off-screen! We only receive surface-level insight into this world’s politics and social dynamics, which is enough to rationalize the chain of events presented in the plot, but bereft of any deeper knowledge or meaning for the reader to extract.
We’re therefore presented with a relatively narrow character drama. This isn’t a flaw with the story necessarily — whatever you end up focusing on, it just needs to be compelling somehow. Unfortunately, what we do get is incredibly banal squabbles and eyeroll-inducing escalations that feel designed for shock value rather than to provide deeper insight. “Why won’t you spend more time with me dearest brother, you’re the only one for me,” “Okay number one that’s weird (you’re my sister,) number two I just fell in love with this white-haired chick at first sight,” “Didn’t you tell me you haven’t even met her yet? 🤨” “Uhm uhm.” In a word, the level of emotional strife and disagreeing motivations here comes across as juvenile; you might say this is because these characters are literally kids and that that’s kind of the point, but that’s not actually what I mean. It feels quaint to be reading this unremarkable back-and-forth dialogue about who spends too much time with whom, who has feelings for whom and who is instantly bewitched by whose beauty in a game about conventionally attractive people regularly described as such; specifically when you have books and films like A Girl on the Shore or How to Have Sex that navigate what I find to be much more challenging and actually-applicable-to-real-life topics like the intersection of romance, the craving for bodily intimacy and self-worth in subtle, artful and original ways. I’m throwing around a lot of adjectives here so I hope you’ll just see where I’m coming from and not ask for more specific scene-analyses LOL but I suppose this point in particular I’d be curious to hear more thoughts on.
To get at least a little more specific, Nellie’s character is a painful example of the jealous-friendzoned-girl doing a textbook version of the “I’m gonna pull some strings to make my object of desire think he has no chance with the bitch I’m competing with” trope. The misunderstandings pile up in the exact way you’d expect, until Nellie, devastated by the arranged marriage looming over her head and Mell’s apathy toward the situation, suffers a psychotic episode in which she physically assaults the white-haired girl and makes an explicitly sexual, non-consensual advance toward her brother. Since I’m critiquing the effectiveness and value of this type of writing, I feel the need to point out that any given player’s reaction to this arc will be incredibly subjective. If Metacritic and backloggd are any indication, you’ll likely have left off with a much different impression than I did, and it may be hard to see where I’m coming from (maybe you can tell that this is very different from my usual mechanics-focused analyses and that I have to reason from a mostly emotional angle LOL.) The argument I will make is that Nellie is an undeniable victim of an oppressive system, and yet she’s the only character in this self-contained story to carry out serious physical violence against another victim; and to me this does not function as effective critique of the system! (Quick aside, I had a very similar issue with Last Night in Soho’s final third and that shit seems way less bad in comparison now LOL) Instead, it comes across as unsympathetic and callous. Nellie is not just trapped by the patriarchy, but her incestual feelings toward Mell, and rather than seriously explore the internal whirlwind and self-analysis you’d expect to be part of that experience in any kind of depth, it genuinely feels more-so used as a way to gross out the player and lean into incredibly distasteful “freaky” Yandere iconography.
I can lay out all the plot beats and see the themes that are being touched on and understand the rationalizations being presented, but it doesn’t change the fact that presentation is narrative just as much as that Wikipedia summary. And in presentation, moment-to-moment, what I played of Fata Morgana rarely reaches past shallow, puerile and cowardly. I say “rarely” because as eyeroll-worthy as the aforementioned love-at-first-sight dynamic between Mell and the white-haired girl is, once they did confess their feelings to each other I couldn’t help but be surprisingly endeared by the hopelessly romantic prose and sensitive staging employed by the scene. The strength, or lack thereof, of the white-haired girl’s grip over Mell’s neck is something visual novels are uniquely poised to convey, in this case by suddenly flipping between slight alterations in otherwise static illustrations and buoy them with careful descriptions of subtle movements and bodily expressions.
But I also said the game was cowardly, because I can’t help but question its worldview when it chooses to have the white-haired girl “disfigured” by Nellie and then completely refuses to show her on-screen again from that point forward. I already noted earlier that Fata Morgana places repeated emphasis on conventional beauty, and flirting with this topic so much while blatantly skirting around any kind of alternative portrayal seems damning in my eyes. Mell’s assurances that he’ll love her regardless of her appearance can only read as hollow when the game doesn’t even seem to love its own characters enough to give them that kind of respect.
Fata Morgana consisting of, to my knowledge, at least a few largely self-contained stories has me relatively confident in the validity of this review; the main game does not revisit this particular scenario past what I played from what I understand. You might still think that this is shaky ground for me to stand on, but the entire point I hope I made here is that as a storyteller, you’re communicating things to your audience from minute one. If this opening isn’t an accurate representation of the game as a whole, then what was the point of it? If I’m to expect crucial subversions deeper into the story, how am I supposed to believe that they are any more tasteful or substantive than the dramatic turns utilized here? If the game spends two hours on this completely unoriginal love triangle, how will it tackle more difficult subjects? I’ve experienced complete, rich stories in that time-span, stories that consider their themes just as much as their form. I can certainly have Fata Morgana’s themes explained to me by its fans and acknowledge the sincerity ultimately laying beneath, but what I really needed in those two hours is for Novectacle to convince me they’re equipped to tell this kind of story; and I can’t say that I am.
Basically my introduction to the medium of visual novels and immediately feels like I can retire the genre. Amazing showcases how the combination of visuals and music can aid an already gripping story. Nothing but love for this amazing game that has it all, including emotional damage to the reader.
EN: The House in Fata Morgana was my introduction to the medium of visual novels and I immediately feel like I've already read the best of the genre without experiencing the rest.
"No one knows who first said
...that the mansion was cursed."
It is a Visual Novel in which there is a mansion which is cursed, in which a servant girl guides you so that you, the master, can remember who you are, she presents you with stories of former members of the mansion in the form of memories and each one presents different themes, between tragedy, human nature and madness. These give way to a great mystery and the search for the answer to the curse that affects the mansion.
A masterpiece that highlights in every section the talent behind the game, showing an incredibly well written story, with the presence of extremely human characters, with a soundtrack that subtly tells its own story, as a set of things that create the atmosphere of the cursed mansion, it is a terribly depressing work, so much so that it tears the soul but at the same time through all the tragedy continues to light a hopeful fire and that immerses you in this love story.
It seeks to explore in depth the search for identity, the importance of communication and mutual understanding, how our surroundings shape us and build our being and how even small moments of human connection and warmth create a lasting effect on the people around us. it teaches us to accept reality and facing it can be as painful as reality itself. no matter how dark it gets, there is always some light at the end of the tunnel.
There are no words that can describe everything I felt through the characters, they are so human you can feel their own pain. everything maintains a level of believable realism that of what makes the narrative so heartbreaking. everything you are presented with has a purpose, putting the big puzzle together, seeing how it all came together as I went along was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever experienced in a game.
It's not a perfect VN by any means, it's pretty unevenly paced, but I forged a greater emotional connection to this story than almost any other I've ever experienced in my life.
It is beautiful, breathtaking, heartbreakingly tragic, unflinching and brutal, and one of the best love stories ever told. It will take you on a journey of strong emotions in every way. Nothing so much passion and heart was put into could leave anyone without having gained something valuable from reading it. I am so glad I read it, because it is an experience I will never forget and it will stay in my heart.
ES: The House in Fata Morgana fue mi introducción al medio de las novelas visuales e inmediatamente siento que ya he leído lo mejor del género sin experimentar el resto.
"Nadie sabe quién dijo por primera vez
...que la mansión estaba maldita".
Es una Visual Novel en la que existe una mansión la cual está maldita, en la que una sirvienta te guía para tú, el amo, puedas recordar quien eres, te presenta historias de antiguos miembros de la mansión en forma de recuerdos y cada una presenta distintos temas, entre la tragedia, naturaleza humana y la locura. Que dan paso a un gran misterio y a la búsqueda de la respuesta a la maldición que afecta a la mansión.
Una obra maestra que destaca en todo apartado el talento detrás del juego, mostrando una historia increíblemente bien escrita, con presencia de personajes sumamente humanos, con una banda sonora que cuenta sutilmente su propia historia, en conjunto de cosas que crean la atmósfera de la mansión maldita, es una obra terriblemente deprimente, tanto que desgarra el alma, pero al mismo tiempo a través de toda la tragedia sigue encendiendo un fuego esperanzador y que te sumerge en esta historia de amor.
Busca explorar en profundidad la búsqueda de identidad, la importancia de la comunicación y del entendimiento mutuo, como el alrededor nos da forma y construye nuestro ser y cómo incluso los pequeños momentos de conexión y calidez humana crean un efecto duradero en las personas que nos rodean. Nos enseña aceptar la realidad y enfrentarse a ella puede ser tan doloroso como la propia realidad. No importa lo oscura que se ponga, siempre hay algo de luz al final del túnel.
No hay palabras que puedan describir todo lo sentí a través de los personajes, son tan humanos que puedes sentir su propio dolor. Todo mantiene un nivel de realismo creíble que de lo que hace que la narración sea tan desgarradora. Todo lo que te presentan tiene un propósito, armar el gran rompecabezas, ver cómo todo iba encajando a medida que avanzaba fue una experiencia de las experiencias más gratificantes que he experimentado en un juego.
No es una VN perfecta ni mucho menos, tiene un ritmo bastante irregular, pero he forjado una mayor conexión emocional con esta historia que con casi cualquier otra que haya experimentado en mi vida.
Es hermosa, sobrecogedora, desgarradoramente trágica, inquebrantable y brutal, y una de las mejores historias de amor contadas. Te llevará a un viaje de fuertes emociones en todos sentidos. Nada en lo que se haya puesto tanta pasión y corazón podría dejar a alguien sin haber ganado algo valioso al leerlo. Me alegro mucho de haberlo leído, porque es una experiencia que nunca olvidaré y se quedará en mi corazón.
"No one knows who first said
...that the mansion was cursed."
It is a Visual Novel in which there is a mansion which is cursed, in which a servant girl guides you so that you, the master, can remember who you are, she presents you with stories of former members of the mansion in the form of memories and each one presents different themes, between tragedy, human nature and madness. These give way to a great mystery and the search for the answer to the curse that affects the mansion.
A masterpiece that highlights in every section the talent behind the game, showing an incredibly well written story, with the presence of extremely human characters, with a soundtrack that subtly tells its own story, as a set of things that create the atmosphere of the cursed mansion, it is a terribly depressing work, so much so that it tears the soul but at the same time through all the tragedy continues to light a hopeful fire and that immerses you in this love story.
It seeks to explore in depth the search for identity, the importance of communication and mutual understanding, how our surroundings shape us and build our being and how even small moments of human connection and warmth create a lasting effect on the people around us. it teaches us to accept reality and facing it can be as painful as reality itself. no matter how dark it gets, there is always some light at the end of the tunnel.
There are no words that can describe everything I felt through the characters, they are so human you can feel their own pain. everything maintains a level of believable realism that of what makes the narrative so heartbreaking. everything you are presented with has a purpose, putting the big puzzle together, seeing how it all came together as I went along was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever experienced in a game.
It's not a perfect VN by any means, it's pretty unevenly paced, but I forged a greater emotional connection to this story than almost any other I've ever experienced in my life.
It is beautiful, breathtaking, heartbreakingly tragic, unflinching and brutal, and one of the best love stories ever told. It will take you on a journey of strong emotions in every way. Nothing so much passion and heart was put into could leave anyone without having gained something valuable from reading it. I am so glad I read it, because it is an experience I will never forget and it will stay in my heart.
ES: The House in Fata Morgana fue mi introducción al medio de las novelas visuales e inmediatamente siento que ya he leído lo mejor del género sin experimentar el resto.
"Nadie sabe quién dijo por primera vez
...que la mansión estaba maldita".
Es una Visual Novel en la que existe una mansión la cual está maldita, en la que una sirvienta te guía para tú, el amo, puedas recordar quien eres, te presenta historias de antiguos miembros de la mansión en forma de recuerdos y cada una presenta distintos temas, entre la tragedia, naturaleza humana y la locura. Que dan paso a un gran misterio y a la búsqueda de la respuesta a la maldición que afecta a la mansión.
Una obra maestra que destaca en todo apartado el talento detrás del juego, mostrando una historia increíblemente bien escrita, con presencia de personajes sumamente humanos, con una banda sonora que cuenta sutilmente su propia historia, en conjunto de cosas que crean la atmósfera de la mansión maldita, es una obra terriblemente deprimente, tanto que desgarra el alma, pero al mismo tiempo a través de toda la tragedia sigue encendiendo un fuego esperanzador y que te sumerge en esta historia de amor.
Busca explorar en profundidad la búsqueda de identidad, la importancia de la comunicación y del entendimiento mutuo, como el alrededor nos da forma y construye nuestro ser y cómo incluso los pequeños momentos de conexión y calidez humana crean un efecto duradero en las personas que nos rodean. Nos enseña aceptar la realidad y enfrentarse a ella puede ser tan doloroso como la propia realidad. No importa lo oscura que se ponga, siempre hay algo de luz al final del túnel.
No hay palabras que puedan describir todo lo sentí a través de los personajes, son tan humanos que puedes sentir su propio dolor. Todo mantiene un nivel de realismo creíble que de lo que hace que la narración sea tan desgarradora. Todo lo que te presentan tiene un propósito, armar el gran rompecabezas, ver cómo todo iba encajando a medida que avanzaba fue una experiencia de las experiencias más gratificantes que he experimentado en un juego.
No es una VN perfecta ni mucho menos, tiene un ritmo bastante irregular, pero he forjado una mayor conexión emocional con esta historia que con casi cualquier otra que haya experimentado en mi vida.
Es hermosa, sobrecogedora, desgarradoramente trágica, inquebrantable y brutal, y una de las mejores historias de amor contadas. Te llevará a un viaje de fuertes emociones en todos sentidos. Nada en lo que se haya puesto tanta pasión y corazón podría dejar a alguien sin haber ganado algo valioso al leerlo. Me alegro mucho de haberlo leído, porque es una experiencia que nunca olvidaré y se quedará en mi corazón.
Kramer Hentai Adventures 5.
You don't owe forgiveness to the people who wronged you in your life, but you still are able to move forward and start anew. The cycle of hatred and tragedy will ultimately benefit no one the further and further it goes on. It's not easy to do all of this alone however, especially if you were mistreated by many people in your life. One day though you will find someone who will sympathize and give you the empathy you've needed for years. They can help and reach out their hand to pull you out of the darkness you've been swallowed up by. The people who did do you wrong and their actions can never be excused and it's understandable if they aren't, but knowing the whole truth and the different perspectives can put everything together. The point is to release, not to destroy anymore.
overrated
/əʊvəˈreɪtɪd/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
rated or valued too highly.
/əʊvəˈreɪtɪd/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
rated or valued too highly.
Masterpiece
I fucking love Michel Bollinger
went into this because i have a thing for maids and came out ready to shill this door to door to everyone i know like a mormon missionary
The greatest work in fiction, fata morgana makes a deep exploration about one's search of identity and sense of belonging, the importance of mutual communication and understanding, how the environment around us shapes and builds our being and how even small fleeting moments of human connection and warmth creates a lasting effect on the people around it even after decades
Those themes are perfectly portrayed through its amazing cast with each character bringing in a new world view and contrasting perspective about those themes, their development being build up in the shape of past memories gives in an opening to a heavy mystery and the search for the answer of what's the curse afflicting the mansion.
The phenomenal OST only helps to shape and build the atmosphere of the cursed mansion, while subtly telling a story of their own.
The masterfully build mystery allows it to give a multifaceted view on the story, with various events being changed multiple times as the story progresses with each passing moment making the previous scene even more complex and deep
Overall a perfectly written story with a deeply connected plot with extremely well written characters that tackles some of the most sincere and beautiful themes in fiction with a well handled work around more uncomfortable topics
Those themes are perfectly portrayed through its amazing cast with each character bringing in a new world view and contrasting perspective about those themes, their development being build up in the shape of past memories gives in an opening to a heavy mystery and the search for the answer of what's the curse afflicting the mansion.
The phenomenal OST only helps to shape and build the atmosphere of the cursed mansion, while subtly telling a story of their own.
The masterfully build mystery allows it to give a multifaceted view on the story, with various events being changed multiple times as the story progresses with each passing moment making the previous scene even more complex and deep
Overall a perfectly written story with a deeply connected plot with extremely well written characters that tackles some of the most sincere and beautiful themes in fiction with a well handled work around more uncomfortable topics